NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's basketball team dropped its season opener in the final minute, 74-73, to visiting UW-Stout despite a 20-point performance from senior
Dominic Bledsoe on Friday evening at Skoglund Center.
Armani Tinsley scored back-to-back baskets in the final minute for UW-Stout (1-0), including the game-winning layup with eight seconds remaining, on a night that saw him score a game-high 22 points. Tinsley's game-winning bucket came nine seconds after junior
Jake Weber had given St. Olaf (0-1) a short-lived 73-72 lead.
Bledsoe was 5-for-10 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free-throw line on the way to his 20-point night. Senior
Nathan Hendler was 4-for-8 from behind the arc on his way to a career-high 14 points, while classmate
Niko Polydorou added a career-high 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
St. Olaf shot an even 50.0 percent (14-for-28) from the field in the opening 20 minutes on its way to a 43-36 halftime lead. Hendler and Bledsoe combined for 23 of the Oles' 43 points in the opening half, as all four of Hendler's three-pointers came before the break and Bledsoe added 11 points in the early goings.
In the second half, a jumper by Weber with 13:32 remaining pushed St. Olaf's lead to 10, 56-46, before UW-Stout responded with a 9-0 run to get within a point. The Blue Devils took a one-point lead with 7:13 to go, but the Oles later scored five-straight points on a layup by Polydorou and three-straight made free throws by Bledsoe to take a 65-61 lead with 4:05 remaining.
Lovell Williams scored the next seven UW-Stout points as the visitors led 68-67 with 2:24 remaining before Hendler and Tinsley traded baskets near the two-minute mark. Bledsoe found Polydorou for a layup with 1:01 remaining to give the Oles the lead with 1:01 on the clock, setting up Tinsley's late-game heroics.
Nine of the game's 19 lead changes came in the final 2:52 of the game. St. Olaf led for 29:07 in the game compared to 7:12 for UW-Stout.
The Oles host UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. at Skoglund Center.
